UK's top drug expert calls for debate about decriminalisation of drugs to begin in Scotland

A former senior UK government advisor on drugs policy has joined calls for a debate about the decriminalisation of controlled substances to begin in Scotland.

Professor David Nutt, who is currently the Edmond J Safra chair in Neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London, was dismissed as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in 2009, after saying that ecstasy, cannabis and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco.

He has long advocated the use of some illegal substances to treat patients suffering from everything from anxiety attacks to terminal cancer, but admits he has struggled to garner political support at Westminster.

Nutt has now urged the Scottish Government to examine what devolved powers could be used to open up the possibility of prescribing controlled substances such as cannabis.

Although the criminal control of drugs is a policy reserved to Westminster, Nutt believes the Scottish government could tinker...

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